Ask the Author: Leona Wisoker

Answered Questions (7)

What was your inspiration for writing the Children of the Desert series?

Hi! Good question.

So, a couple of years before I started on
what would become Secrets of the Sands, I wrote a big, sprawling book
called Kingdom of Salt (still unpublished, still under reconstruction to
match the published series), which took place primarily in the northern
part of the kingdom and featured only one character that overlaps with
the current series: Tank. Beta readers for KoS had mixed reactions,
rightly so: it was a messy book with a lot of problems.

One
reader, however, utterly hated Tank (a character that I was, and remain,
quite fond of). Her comments got me so angry that I decided to write
Tank’s backstory to show her what for. Never underestimate the
productivity invoked by angering a writer!

So I sat down to
create that story….and wound up writing about a street thief instead.
After that first chapter, I decided I was going to write my version of
an “Oliver Twist” story. I even pulled out and reread a bunch of Charles
Dickens books to see how to do that.

Well… as you can see in
the books, THAT didn’t work out as planned either. And Tank didn’t even
properly show up in the series until two, three books in.

So my inspiration got the words started, but the characters and the story decided quite willfully where to go from there!

Thanks for asking! I always love questions like this. 🙂

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Pick up something else creative–drawing, walking, poetry, reading, cooking, even cleaning house. Or sleeping. I do a lot of sleeping. It helps reset my brain when I’m stuck.

What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Working whatever hours I please. Also, working in my pajamas.

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Be comfortable with failure. Be okay with not being any damn good at all. Keep trying and keep fighting and keep learning and keep fixing. What separates the successful from the washouts isn’t some mythical born talent. It’s a stubborn refusal to give up no matter how often you get mocked. Learn from your mistakes. Get hold of your voice and hang on to your dreams and don’t let anyone tell you to give up.

What are you currently working on? (answer updated 2020)

I’m done with the Children of the Desert series. I’m overhauling the first book in the sequel series. I’m taking on editing and formatting jobs. I’m pulling together a collection of short stories and poems for a self-published experiment. I might be putting together a second Feeding The Muse-style writer’s cookbook at some point in 2020.

How do you get inspired to write?

Generally, sheer panic at the sound of a deadline whooshing past…

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book? (Answer updated 2020)

My most recent book, the fifth and final in the Children of the Desert series, “Servants of the Sands”, was a necessary wrap up of all the stuff that happened over the first four books. A very complicated wrap up, too, which is why it’s such a doorstop of a volume.

I have a couple book ideas idling about on the back burner, but right now I’m focused on creating shorter stuff, novella length maybe, just to get myself back into writing. I’ve been pretty well stalled out the last year or two.

And that’s all that was really worth saving from Goodreads. It’s kind of a shame to lose that huge record of the books I’ve read; I put hours and hours into building that up. But honestly, I haven’t logged in to the site in months, I don’t see any real traffic coming from there, and their issues with poisonous reviews and toxic community have just gotten too severe for me to ignore. Here’s a blog post summarizing the latest problems. And another one. And a third. That should get you started, if you’re interested.

I have no idea if leaving Goodreads will actually hurt my visibility. If it does, it does. I’m tired of accepting problematic connections for the sake of exposure. There has to be a better way, and that better way won’t show up if we all keep trotting along with the status quo.